How Long Does an AED Last? Lifespan and When to Replace It

An AED lasts about 8 to 10 years. That’s the expected service life most manufacturers give their current models, though ZOLL rates its professional AED Pro for 5. The AED itself has no printed expiration date. Its pads and battery do, and they wear out years before the AED does.

The age of an AED matters because support doesn’t last forever. When a manufacturer ends support, repairs usually stop first, and pads and batteries stop being sold later. Here’s what each maker says about lifespan, which older AEDs have already lost support, and how to tell when it’s time to replace yours.

How long do AEDs last?

Most current AEDs are rated for 8 to 10 years of service. Manufacturers put it in one of two ways. Some state an expected service life, the number of years the AED is designed to keep working. Others state only a warranty period. HeartSine says the two are the same thing for its AEDs: an 8-year warranty that it treats as the service life.

Neither number is a shut-off date. An AED that passes its self-tests keeps working after it, but the manufacturer no longer promises that it will, and repairs and parts get harder to find as the model ages. Physio-Control, now part of Stryker, recommends replacing its AEDs once they’re more than eight years old.

Service lives come from each manufacturer’s manual. The ZOLL and Powerheart warranties come from ZOLL’s device registration page, and the HeartStart OnSite and FRx warranties from Total AEDs, AED Log’s sister store, which sells both. Stryker’s LIFEPAK 1000 instructions state neither figure, so ask Stryker or your distributor. Philips sold its AED business in January 2026, and HeartStart AEDs are now sold by Heartstream.

Do AEDs expire?

Not the way their supplies do. The AED doesn’t carry an expiration date, but its pads and battery do, each with its own date printed on the package or the part.

That’s where most “expired AED” problems really come from. A ten-year-old AED with in-date pads and a good battery can be ready to use, while a two-year-old AED with expired pads isn’t. On most models, pads need replacing every 2 to 5 years and batteries every 4 to 5 years, and pads also have to be replaced after every use.

For the shelf life of each model’s parts, see our guides to AED pad expiration and AED battery replacement.

Older AEDs that have lost support

Some AEDs still in service are no longer supported by the companies that made them. Support usually ends in stages: repairs stop first, then batteries and pads. These are the dates the manufacturers announced:

• LIFEPAK 500: parts, inspections and repairs ended January 31, 2018. Stryker discontinued its batteries on February 3, 2020, and no pads have been marketed for it since February 3, 2022.
• Philips HeartStart FR2 and FR2+: Philips announced the end of support on December 31, 2018. The last day to order their pads and batteries in the US was December 31, 2020.
• LIFEPAK CR Plus and LIFEPAK EXPRESS: Stryker stopped selling both in the US on November 27, 2019, and promised service, batteries and electrodes only for each unit’s warranty life: 8 years for the CR Plus and 5 for the EXPRESS. New units had to be bought by October 31, 2020 to get that warranty, so the promise runs out for the last CR Plus units by late 2028.
• Older Cardiac Science Powerheart AEDs: the Powerheart and FirstSave models sold before 2007, including G3 Pro units numbered 9300P-2xx, lost factory repairs, batteries and electrodes on January 1, 2016.

A second deadline affects older AEDs. Since a 2015 FDA final order, every AED and its necessary accessories have needed FDA premarket approval. The FDA warns that if an AED isn’t FDA approved, compatible pads and batteries may no longer be available for it after February 3, 2022. It also tells owners to keep an unapproved AED available until they have an approved one, because of how much an AED matters in an emergency. Each of our AED model pages shows when the FDA approved that model, and the hub lists every discontinued model we cover.

Signs it’s time to replace an AED

Replace an AED when its manufacturer’s support is running out, not when it finally fails. Start planning a replacement when any of these is true:

• It’s past its expected service life or warranty. Count from the purchase date, and use the table above or your owner’s manual.
• The manufacturer has ended support, or has stopped selling its pads or batteries.
• It isn’t FDA approved. Compare your model with the FDA’s list of approved AEDs.
• It keeps failing its self-test, or shows a service warning that new pads and a new battery don’t clear. See what a failed self-test means, and call the manufacturer before you buy parts.
• It’s damaged, such as a cracked case, and the manufacturer can’t repair it.
• It’s under a recall that the manufacturer can’t fix with new parts or software. Check our AED recall list for your model.

How to plan an AED replacement

A replacement goes smoothly when it’s planned a year or two ahead, not ordered the week the old AED stops working.

1. Write down each AED’s dates: when it was made, when it went into service and when its warranty ends.
2. Register each new AED with its manufacturer. It can lengthen the warranty: ZOLL adds two years for the AED 3, AED Plus and Powerheart G5, and Avive extends its warranty to 8 years for AEDs registered with REALConnect.
3. Check each model’s support status once a year on the manufacturer’s website or our AED model pages, and keep any end-of-sale or end-of-support letter you receive.
4. Budget for it. Our AED cost guide covers the AED itself plus pads, batteries and a cabinet, and Total AEDs, AED Log’s sister store, lists current prices for new AEDs.
5. Ask about trade-in credit. Manufacturers have offered it when they ended support: Physio-Control offered LIFEPAK 500 owners a trade-in credit, and Stryker sent owners of its discontinued LIFEPAK models to their sales representative to discuss trade-up options. Ask the manufacturer or your distributor before you buy.
6. Keep the old AED in place until the new one arrives, then swap them the same day so the location is never without one.
7. Retire the old AED properly: recycle it as its manufacturer’s instructions say, record the new AED’s serial number, pads and battery, and show your responders the new model.

How AED Log tracks AED age and warranty

AED Log keeps each AED’s dates on its own record, so a replacement never comes as a surprise. Every AED has fields for its manufacture date, install date and warranty expiration. The warranty date appears on the compliance calendar and raises an alert as it nears, without marking a working AED as not ready. Pads and batteries are tracked separately, each with its own expiration date, through AED pad and battery expiration tracking.

For budgeting, the Expiration Forecast report lists everything coming due up to 24 months out, pads, batteries and warranty dates together, and can group it by month as a replacement schedule. Each AED’s page also shows its model’s manufacturer resources, such as user guides, warranty details and support contacts, and AED Log puts a notice on any AED that matches an FDA recall once a person has reviewed the match. See AED management for the whole picture. Plans start at $114 a year, with a 45-day free trial.

AED lifespan FAQ